With Friends Like These
by RedTailedHawkens
Summary: Alternate Crisis On Infinite Earths Part II Scene. After being recruited by the heroes and saved from Earth 38's Lex Luthor, a much older Clark Kent has a heart to heart with The Girl of Steel.


Author's Note: I know I haven't written for the Smallville fandom in years. I still want to get back to those stories someday, but for now, all I can say is the recent Arrowverse crossover put me in a bit of a state and I had to write something. This is not Canon with Crisis on Infinite Earths as of Hour II, but I choose to believe that Crisis is not Canon with Smallville for reasons I won't rant like a maniac about here.

Here's what you need to know. This is Clark/Superman from the Smallville franchise. He's "lost more" because the people he loved aged and died and he stayed young because he is Kryptonian.

He's Future-Clark.

Lex of Earth 38 goes after him, but Lois of Earth 38 saves him like she did Routh's Superman and now he's on Team Good or Team Crossover, or whatever they are calling themselves. This is a moment on the ship. Here we go.

With Friends Like These

Kara had just lost Argo and her mom, AGAIN, not to mention Oliver. She was running pretty low on hope these days and here comes a version of her cousin who has lost literally everything.

He stood off to the side as they planned and plotted; he wasn't bad at it by any means, but he didn't know them. He wasn't used to working with this team. Kara could understand why he would go off to the side, why he would find himself a quiet corner to just think about everything that was happening.

Plus, he probably didn't want to be anywhere near that Lex Luthor in a cage and Kara couldn't say she blamed him on that front either.

"It must be strange," Kara said as she came up behind him, "Seeing people long dead again, even with a slightly different face."

Clark smiled, "When your friends showed up and said Lex Luthor was trying to kill me… I haven't thought about Lex in a long time."

Kara offered him a smile, "Well, at least that's one person the world is better off without."

Clark was quiet for a minute, then he said, "He saved my life, you know. That's how he died." It wasn't defensive, the way he said it, just a fact, but Kara knew she must have missed something.

"Who?"

"Lex."

Kara's eyes widened. Literally nothing could have surprised her more than that. These other universes really were strange, "So he wasn't a villain in your world?"

"No, he was. He was a villain for a long time. He was the toughest villain I ever faced. Sometimes I really, really hated him more than I've ever hated anybody. But, despite that, he was also… my friend. We both remembered that in the end. When it counted."

Kara didn't say anything. Couldn't say anything. Luthor and villain were so very much the same things to her.

Except…

"How? I mean, I just… Lex Luthor is… Lex Luthor."

"I know it probably seems strange to you to think of being friends with a Luthor. But Lex was… complicated. He went down a dark path for a while, and I would never excuse all the bad he did. But he WAS my friend and he did the right thing in the end."

"It's not as strange as you might think," Kara said. "Did he… did your Lex have a… a sister?"

Clark nodded, "Tess. Lutessa Lena Luthor actually, but she went by Tess. She gave her life to protect me from him when he was at his worst. She was a good person."

"In my world, her name is just Lena. And she was my … is my best friend. But she found out I was Supergirl and … and she hates me. She hates me for lying to her like everybody else has." Kara felt her throat tighten, she could feel the tears start to pool in her eyes, "And she's going down a dark path now too. I don't know how to help her. I don't know how to make her trust me again."

Clark watched her for a while, compassion in his eyes, "I once said that Luthor blood is poison. I was wrong. I didn't become Superman because of the powers I have or the blood running through my veins; I became Superman because I was raised by the two kindest, brightest, most selfless and generous souls I've ever known.

Lex was raised by a cruel man and he was hurt and betrayed by so many people so many times… including me. It took me a long time to see the role I paid in making him what he was. And again, I'm not excusing him. Lex made his own choices. But when all you know is hurt and pain and cruelty, it can be hard to see that you have a choice.

If I could do it again, I don't know what I would do differently. I told myself that I trusted him, but I didn't, not really. I don't know that I knew how to really trust anyone, and by the time I learned… it's hard, when you're like us, to trust people, to let them in, to let them see that we can be just as vulnerable as anybody. Maybe we're protecting our loved ones, doing the noble thing. Maybe we're just running scared.

Kara, I can't tell you how to fix what went wrong with you and Lena. I can't tell you how to save her because I couldn't save Lex either. But I can give you hope; he saved himself, in the end. When it counted, he did the right thing. When it counted, he was still my friend, deep down, under everything.

And maybe that's what I should have focused on. Maybe it shouldn't be about saving him. Maybe I should have just been his friend. That's what he needed, what we both needed. That's what mattered. Maybe it's what will matter for Lena too. Having somebody to really care about, having them really care about you, is all any of us want, in the end."

Kara smiled, swiping at her eyes, "Well, you've really got the hero speech-giving thing down."

"And just so you know, not everyone I met today reminds me of someone I lost." Clark said, giving her a devilish smile, "My cousin is still around. You'd like her; she's a real spitfire and she kicks me in the shins when I need it."

Kara laughed, "Good for her. Well, I'll leave you alone then."

"I've been alone for a while now. I think I could use some company."


End file.
